Perhaps the most consistent aspect of Washington’s raggedy, yet 4-0, start to the football season has been coach Chris Petersen’s weekly lament that he doesn’t know who his team is, nor what to expect from them. That will come to an end late Saturday afternoon after the Huskies are done playing Stanford and its collection of human bridge abutments.

Until then . . .

“I think we’re still figuring it out,” Petersen said this week. “We’ve shown we’re inconsistent. But part of that has to do with us having some new players, some young players, and some new guys that maybe have been around here for a while but haven’t played a lot.

“The good teams are really consistent, down in, down out. You’re never going to make every play, but you’re pretty consistent. It’s a work in progress.”

It’s also fair to say a team develops consistency by playing good teams, which the Huskies did not in their four-game exhibition season. Washington was a big favorite over Hawaii, Eastern Washington, Illinois and Georgia State. However, cake walks were few, to the dismay of large chunks of the fan base.

But in a splendid tribute to the NCAA academic mission, Huskies players can read. They understand fully they were heavily favored, just as much as adults, including Petersen, should understand that men between 18 and 22 are easily distracted. Whether by shiny objects, squirrels, skirts or Vegas odds, they believed they didn’t need to fully apply themselves to win.

Lo and behold, they were right. Why this predictable habit of elite young athletes remains a mystery to coaches is a mystery in itself. But that will be no factor Saturday, when, despite the best efforts of the athletics administration, the Huskies will be forced to engage with a quality opponent.

Stanford, 2-1 with the loss to USC 13-10, is coming off a bye week ranked 16th and a seven- to eight-point favorite to win at Husky Stadium. The Cardinal will have the undistracted attention of the Huskies.

“I’m really excited to play these guys — we all are,” said senior DT Evan Hudson. “They’re always tough guys.”

Finally, Huskies fans get to see what the team looks like fully engaged under Petersen.

Stanford coach David Shaw believes he knows what that looks like.

“When you watch Washington at their best, they’re as good as anybody playing right now,” Shaw said this week in Palo Alto. “They’re scary.

“They have moments of absolute dominance on both sides of the ball, and moments where it’s not quite all together. It honestly sounds like a lot of really good teams around the nation . . . I don’t think there’s really a dominant team in college football right now.”

While the remarks are easy to dismiss as the standard smoke that is blown by opposing coaches, the fact is that the Huskies flashed nearly a complete game against Illinois, a Big 10 team that was routed 44-19. Overlooked in a game that had major highlights from the defense, QB Cyler Miles completed 15 of 19 passes for 191 yards and a TD through three quarters. In the same stretch, he had 55 yards in nine carries.

In his first season following graduated Keith Price, Miles has looked a little indecisive at times and eager to run first.

“When you don’t get protected very well, you have a tendency to hurry,” Petersen said. “Your eyes go right to that rush to see if they’re going to protect you or not. So he was a little antsy in there on occasion.

“Cyler hasn’t spent a ton of time in the pocket with real bullets being shot at him. He can move fairly well. It’s a tricky thing, takes a lot more poise than you think, a lot more experience. That’s one of the things we’ve got to do better. We really don’t want to run backwards.”

Petersen watched the film of Stanford’s 31-28 win over Washington in Palo Alto last season — the Cardinal’s sixth win in the seven games against the Huskies coached by Shaw and his mentor/predecessor, Jim Harbaugh — and saw Price complete 33 of 48 for 350 yards, two TDs and a pick.

It demonstrated that Washington can move the ball on Stanford’s formidable defense. Miles isn’t yet Price, but Petersen thinks if Miles learns to move up in the pocket instead of busting outside, success will follow.

“I think it’s always better if you can get up on the pocket . . . that’s what the protection’s going to be,” he said. “It’s not going to be a brick wall that’s just going to hold up and you’ve got no worries. Price did a good job. He hung in there appropriately and delivered some passes while taking some shots.

“You’re going to have to set your feet and throw the ball.”

Once he does, he will have WR John Ross as a target. Ross, 14th in the nation in all purpose yards with a 155-yard average, sat out the 42-14 win over Georgia State with a sore knee, but will play Saturday.

If Miles steps up, literally and figuratively, Washington has a good chance for a surprise. The guess here is that Petersen has kept tucked away numerous offensive options from a playbook as diverse as any in the FBS.

When he offers full ordnance to a team that is finally excited to play a big-time opponent at home, it could be, as Shaw said, scary.

YourThoughts

RadioGuy

Now the tough part of the schedule comes up. We’ll find out soon enough which players have been listening.

Speaking of Keith Price, he signed with the Saskatchewan Roughriders a couple weeks ago after their starting QB went down for the season. Good place to land…the Riders are defending CFL champs, they’re back in the playoff hunt this year and have one of the most loyal fan bases in pro football. As a Riders shareholder I heartily approve and hopefully the Saskatchewan coaches will discover what KP can bring a team over the remaining weeks of their season. He can play in that league.

art thiel

I’m honored to hear from a Riders shareholder. Be gentle with me; you’re my first.

RadioGuy

The few, the proud, the totally obscure…between my one share in a CFL team and one share in the Packers, I’ve got both sides of the border covered.

art thiel

King of the Frozen Tundra. Who knew?

Got in any action on the Yellowknife Malamutes?

RadioGuy

Still waiting to find out what it’ll cost to buy into the Whitehorse Stallions (so THAT’s where Baltimore’s CFL team went), but the sled team hasn’t arrived yet.

mrbaseball121212

Before we get too excited, let’s be clear: Illinois is a MAC team wearing Big ten uniforms. They have a MAC coach in over his head who’s playing guys he recruited while at Toledo, and they’ll be the 13th or 14th best team in the big ten for a long time. Illinois is probably the third best team Washington played this non-conference season. Just felt like I needed to add a little perspective on the 4-0 start, before we go celebrating that “complete win over a Big Ten Team.”

art thiel

Well, I won’t argue with someone expert in the Illini, but I will offer that the Huskies beat them by 25 and it could have been 50. The standard Saturday for Washington is to win by 1.

mrbaseball121212

No doubt, the Huskies played their best game of the year that day, but the perspective is offered that it was UW’s 2nd-worst opponent, and 2nd-best victory margin… By no coincidence. Like you, I’m interested to see what the Pac-12 season – and Stanford – has for these Huskies.

1coolguy

If the Huskies are on this will be a good game – if not, people may leave by halftime. Let’s hope it’s the former.
So much depends on Miles staying in the pocket and looking to his 2nd and if needed 3rd options. As CP states above, it’s all about Miles setting up and learning to take hits in the pocket. His tendency to bail out and run clearly hurts the offense.
I am looking forward to seeing what the D does, esp the D line. The match with Stanford’s O line will be a battle worth watching.

art thiel

The trenches will be alive with large, ferocious men being mean to one another. Watch Stanford LT Andrus Peat. The next Walter Jones.

WeeklyRoundup Email

Followus on Twitter

Likeus on Facebook

Circleus on Google+

SportspressNW.com has partnered with Crosscut.com. Watch exclusive videos of Art Thiel and get the latest political and civic news from the Northwest at Crosscut.com.

ArtThiel on KNKX

Kirsten Kendrick's Q. & A. with Thiel can be heard every Friday during Morning Edition at 5:35am and 7:35am and again that same day on All Things Considered at 4:45pm. It also airs Saturday at 6:35am and 9:35am.